Meeting Notes 3/19/2021

Hybrid/Online Instruction Programming Working Group

Friday, March 19, 2021

 

General Notes:

Roughly 99% of the Fall has been scheduled. At this point it is a wait and see what and how policy changes will effect the current plan. Currently classrooms are scheduled assuming 50% use of classrooms used, not a 50% capacity in the rooms. Baruch seems to be ahead of the curve on planning, but much remains unknown at this time. However, additional planning is underway for student study space. Several members of the team including Art King, Sam and Ed are investigating space and lab space options. It is expected that student will need to space to wait between classes either hybrid, online on in person.

In regard to addressing last minute shifts once final decisions are made for the fall, Jessica Lang suggested planning for the F2F to go hybrid. It would still allow for some in person and address the limitations of space. Additionally it was acknowledged that many are facing COVID fatigue and are looking for answers when certainty cannot be provided. One way to address this is dis discuss dates by which decisions may be made and to ramp up communication of the efforts of the various working groups on campus.

David Birdsell expressed the need to plan for post COVID realities. The use of COVID support funds will run out, what impact will that have on our bandwidths across the campus.

 

Christina LaTouf – Communications Planning

It has been agreed that comprehensive and thoughtful planning on how and when to share the efforts of this taskforce. It will be determined why type of communication systems can be used along with online needs. Christina is meeting with her team to formulate recommendations for the group.

The primary focus of the working groups at the past meeting was the discussion of resource needs and budget projections.  Each group’s general comments are listed below and/or attached to this message.

 

Working Group #1 – Faculty/Staff Engagement and Communications

Dennis Slavin:

This team has expanded to members across the faculty. He and the team are discussing academic support services for students. It is assumed that an additional tutors, NTAs will be needed and the development of a virtual front desk. As with Allison’s efforts, feedback loops need to be developed and the data assessed. No visual presentation was included in the discussion.​

* both Allison and Dennis feel they have a great deal of crossover between their groups and they will be meeting to organize their efforts outside of the taskforce meeting.

 

Working Group #2 – Technical and Software Infrastructure

Art Downing

See Attached: Proposed IT Staff for Online Hybrid

Art has outlined the need for 5 staff positions, costing roughly $30k before fringe. The rolls are essentially replacement lines for services. Specifically these are needed in tech support/helpdesk, Blackboard Support and media support for the new smart rooms.

 

Working Group #3 – course Scheduling and Student Support Infrastructure

Mary Gorman

See Attached: Preliminary Budget for Student Services

Currently there are no foreseen additional tech/software needs. At this point it is a matter of training and expanding the use of systems such as BernieBot, Navigate, etc. Mary is hoping to gain clarity on the approach she should use for planning purposes. It has been proposed that our current service system may benefit by switching over to  a one-stop-shop/coaching model.  A student to service member ratio would need to be agreed upon, but initial estimate to make the switch would be a roughly $700 ongoing commitment to new staff.

 

Working Group #4 – Training and Instructional Design Infrastructure

Allison Lehr Samuels

See attached update documents:  CTL Hybrid Online Working Group Budget  and Group 4 Overview and Progress

​Allison reviewed her efforts to create a listening tour for students and faculty. She stressed that many faculty are growing increasing frustrated by the unknown and are hoping for answers soon. Budget requests are for 200 $500 faculty training stipends. They would be taking part in SPS’ Online Teaching Essential course. Other budget requests include staff for accessibility, Blogs@Baruch, hybrid training, assessment, asynchronous development, and student engagement. It is proposed that we develop specialists in these areas. Additionally it is recommended that the computer lad in CTL be converted into a HyFlex classroom for training purposes. CTL remains committed to developing a variety of course templates for faculty in the fall.

* both Allison and Dennis feel they have a great deal of crossover between their groups and they will be meeting to organize their efforts outside of the taskforce meeting.